Sims 3 vs Sims 4 : What are the Big Differences

It’s just been a little over 2 months since the release of The Sims 4 in November 2017 and the game has already sold more than five million copies worldwide. That’s impressive, to say the least. But, whether or not you should buy the new installment of the series depends on certain factors. I am loyal to some game franchises and always eagerly wait for their new releases. But, that does not mean I do not get disappointed. The Sims 4 packs advanced technology, improved game engine, new gameplay elements and a lot more. But, before you buy the game, you would like to know what you stand to gain and what you might lose. In this article, we take a look at the 8 major differences between The Sims 4 and its predecessor The Sims 3. Keep reading!

WHAT’S NEW TO THE SIMS 4

Here is what has been added to The Sims 4.

1. Inter Neighborhood Travel

The Sims 3 too allowed you to travel to the other neighborhoods. However, it wasn’t as convenient as one would have liked to. You had to freeze the time for all the characters in your home neighborhood before you could set out for the other one. EA has made neighborhood travel a little easier. The other neighborhoods load quickly and you do not lose the timeline of the original. You can make multiple trips without affecting the existing neighborhood gameplay. You can also travel to the future worlds such as Adventures and University of the World, which are being featured again in The Sims 4 after The Sims 3. Back and forth commutes from home in suburbs to work in metro cities is also easier.

2. Create-A-Sim

Create-a-Sim is probably the most exciting and handy feature that the Sims series has to offer. This tool lets you create and customize the Sims to make them look more like the people you know (or have imagined). In The Sims 4, this tool is more advanced and more intuitive than what was in any of its predecessors. While you can still choose the body features and dimensions from the set of presets, you can also manipulate them by dragging. You can alter the height, body size, eye type, cheekbones, mouth, and just about everything. The latest installment of the game also offers new personalities. While The Sims 3 offered 5 personality traits, The Sims 4 has only four. But, the collection of traits has become bigger. The traits also are more relevant to the gameplay and lives of the characters. What’s more exciting is that Sims 4 gameplay offers new animation styles with the traits that can be set to match the character’s personality.

3. Emotions Play a Bigger Role

Yes, emotions will have a bigger role to play in the new The Sims 4. The moods and state of mind of the Sims will be more perceptive in their faces. This will also have a big impact on the Sims’ interaction with the world. For instance, an uptight Sim will have to be worked on more before he or she could be part of any sort of merrymaking. Emotions will also influence the Sims’ ambitions and will be a deciding factor as to when they earn the bonuses. It seems social interactions between the Sims will be more lifelike than before and will offer greater depths.

4. Building Tools Offer More Flexibility

Construction and house designing rules are far more forgiving in The Sims 4 than they where in The Sims 3. Designing a house to your liking and preferences is so much easier now. If you made a mistake, do not worry. You can correct it almost effortlessly. For instance, if you placed a building in the wrong spot you will have no need to bring down everything and start from scratch; you will be able to move the entire building and place it at the desired spot. You can give an entirely new shape to your rooms or roof with a simple drag. You can also swap the positions of the rooms in the house. For instance, if you think you created a bathroom where your kitchen should be, with just a few clicks you will be able to interchange their positions. You also have access to prefabricated rooms too, a feature that was missing when The Sims 3 was originally released.

5. Enhanced Game Engine

The Sims 3 received a few expansions over the years after its release. These expansions aimed at enhancing the gameplay and patching some of the issues that bugged the game. Expansions sure did change the overall gaming experience but not always necessarily in good ways. Some expansions were too advanced for the existing game engine to handle and manage. As a result, we experienced slowness, lags, and noticeable glitches. Some users also reported frequent crashes after installing the expansion packs. In fact, some of the mods that intended to solve some reported problems end up making them even worse.

The issue was clearly with the game engine which wasn’t advanced enough to accommodate such futuristic changes. Nearly half a decade elapsed between the release of The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. This gave developers ample amount of time to figure out the problem and fix it. The Sims 4 has a far more advanced game engine that is guaranteed to offer you a smoother, more stable gaming experience not only with the original game but also with the expansion packs.

TOOLS AND FEATURES DROPPED IN THE SIMS 4

Not everything in The Sims 4 is about adding stuff. Some things have also been cut out. Here is what you would miss.

1. Create-A-Style is Missing

Not all the omissions are likely to go down well with the fans of this game series; well, not at least for a while. The create-a-style tool is definitely one of them. If you have played The Sims 3, you would know what this tool did. It let you drag the patterns from a collection of patterns and drop them onto items like furniture and clothing. Once the pattern has been set, you could easily recolor them to your liking. Plenty of times, this made the life of the gamers easier as they could quickly choose the patters for the dresses, outfits and furniture items. I am sure some of us would be very offended with this move as it allowed us to design things exactly the way we visualized. There is a chance EA may reintroduce this tool with an update sometime in the future, but we haven’t heard anything on it yet.

2. Toddler Stage of Life and Pools Have Been Removed

If you loved to see the babies’ course of aging transitioning from infancy to toddling to going to schools, you are going to be a little (or perhaps very) disappointed with this movie. After all, who doesn’t like to see the adorable babies toddling, tottering and teetering curiously around the house? The Sims 4 will summarily skip the toddler stage of the babies’ growth and take them directly to the schooling age.

The other major drop out from the predecessor is the pools, which you will not find in the people’s gardens or backyards. This comes as a surprise because pools are one of the reasons why the game became so popular. The Sims 3 would let you drown the sims by simply removing the ladders from the pool. Well, some of us derived some sadistic pleasures from it but it was definitely one big show of the game.

The developers say that these steps were taken to shift the focus to more important content in the game. So, they simply made the decision on our behalf as to what is important and what is not.

3. None of Your Downloadable Content is Compatible with The Sims 4

EA tried hard to maintain the viability of The Sims 3 with expansion packs and downloadable content. They released 11 full-fledged expansion packs, 10 new neighborhoods, 9 small packs for clothing and furniture, and countless objects you could purchase through microtransactions. If you have continued to play the game for years, you must have amassed a lot of extras and probably also spent a great deal of money. Unfortunately, none of it is going to be compatible with The Sims 4.

I wouldn’t say it is entirely unfair on the company’s part. After all, they will be releasing new packs and purchasable items for The Sims 4 too and if you have so much already in hand, you would probably not buy anything new and end up hurting their bottom line. Also, The Sims 4 uses an entirely new engine and backward compatibility may cause more trouble than good. So, it was expected from them to have started afresh with the new installment.

Wrapping Up

New engine, new technology promise to offer a better gaming experience than what The Sims 4 predecessors could deliver. But, the fans of The Sims 3 who have been playing the game for nearly 5 years might take a considerable amount of time to wean off from its addiction and adopt a new style. While the gameplay is largely the same, plenty of been changes have been made in many in-game aspects. Some are good, some probably not so much. For instance, traveling to new neighborhoods is easier. However, the true essence of open-world gaming has been compromised as the transition from one neighborhood to another happens through the loading screen. While creating houses and designing the town infrastructure is easier in The Sims 4, many vital elements like the toddler stage and pools have been dropped. In spite of all this, I still believe that The Sims 4 is a pretty solid game and I will definitely give it a try.

FAQs(Frequently Asked Questions)

Q1. The Sims 3 vs The Sims 4: which is better?

Ans: In comparison to Sims 4 vs Sims 3, we found Sims 4 better. Sims 4 is packed with a more powerful game engine and enhanced features.